Slow Down To Go Fast!
We are addicted to fast in this country.
Everything from driving to ordering and eating food on the run to same-day delivery - now one-hour delivery - and everything is on demand.
That even sounds ugly, doesn’t it?
Going fast has become a cultural value and norm, but at what cost?
If we could only get the time to slow down long enough to think about it. Whew!
In decision-making, which we constantly do, going fast costs us clarity, consideration, and alignment with purpose (to name a few). And much more than that in irreplaceable things. Like family, health, love, and relationships.
It costs time we will never get back and memories we will never make while we are busy at work, creating a better life for ourselves.
Oh, the bitter irony.
How do we so easily make such an unholy exchange? Time, family, health, etc., in exchange for money and a lifestyle that robs us of what matters most.
Is it because we take for granted what we cannot count on that we will have tomorrow?
One day tomorrow won’t come.
I was driving to an appointment today, doing my usual scanning for empty spaces to maneuver into ahead of those pesky drivers in front of me, slowing me down.
“Don’t go so fast,” a voice inside my head cautioned, “what are you in such a hurry about?”
I teased those words off my tongue - what am I in such a hurry about? Ok, God, I hear you! I laughed, sliding my foot over to the brake.
For the first time in a long while, I was content to toddle along in the slow lane, and a noticeable thing happened. I arrived at my destination with time to spare, fewer creases on my forehead and less clenching of my jaw.
And I wondered, how much anxiety had that saved me?
Something miraculous begins to unfold when you slow down and take notice.
It's like compound interest, accumulating exponentially just by sticking to a rhythm of habitual behavior.
Which we all do, of course, but the question is, what is the behavior? Is it adding to or taking away from our account?
This morning I woke up looking in the rearview mirror.
Why does it feel like I have been coming from behind for most of my adult life? Usually, the eight ball and I juggled too many things while trying to bring something over the finish line.
The words of Dr. Irena O’Brien of The Neuroscience School illuminated my thoughts -
“Your brain and body are one system, and if you don’t pay attention to both if you don’t properly care for both, you will never become who you want to be.”
Ouch!
What we are doing doesn’t matter. If we are not paying attention to who we are being,
I don’t know about you, but I’m too far down the road to squander anything irreplaceable, and I’m starting with me.
For the first time in my life, I’m intentionally commanding my rhythm to slow down and pay attention to my body’s daily needs. What proportion and effect is it when I deposit too much, too little, or none?
Neuroscientist Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett calls it the Body Budget.
If we don’t honor our own body with the right stuff at the right time in the right way, we make it impossible to thrive.
It's a simple exercise of paying attention and making adjustments, of slowing down to go fast - to a better quality of life and a better version of you.
Let’s try this on together.
Join me for the 30-Day Body Budget Challenge!
Click the link for more information!
